Question of the Week: 84 - 11/10/2002Between the Veils: What Did You See?In the times of the thinning veils, did you look into the past or the future? What did you see?

What forms of divination do you use? Do you have an unusual technique that you would like to tell us about?

Have you had some (or all) of the things that you divined in the past come true? What is the most profound insight that you gained through divination? Do you think that the future is fixed or can it be changed?

I have never played with an Ouija board before, until this Samhain. I went to a party with a bunch of other Pagans, and Pagan-friendly people. We tried the Ouija board but all we got was mostly jibberish. They said that was because the veil was thin and a whole bunch of spirits were all pushing and shoving to talk to us. I'd never heard of that, but I guess it makes sense.

I was skeptical, and still am a little, although I did get my turn having my hand on the pointer with three other people, and I know *I* didn't move it! We got a few names spelled out but that was about it. The rest of the night was mostly spent partying, although we did set up an altar to the dead too, and some people put photos and offerings on it, which was nice.

For like 2 years I have had dreams that show me the future. I didn't ask for these dreams, or did I do any ritual to get them. It was these dreams that turned me to withcraft.

When I see the future, it is always accurate. I foresaw the terrorist attack in Bali: I was in bed when suddenly I heard a loud explosion, metal rattling, and felt the sensation of alcohol been near. Just 9 days later, the bomb attack occured on the nightclub.

I think the only reason the future is fixed is that we don't know enough of what is coming to change it. When I receive my dreams of the future, the details are always too sketchy to do anything about it.

Being born the day before Samhain has always made that time of year special for me, even having been raised as a Lutheran. Things always seem to happen to me just around my birthday, and this year was no exception. Just a few short days before my 32nd, I had a very visual dream that my mom's spirit entered my body while I was sitting at a piano. Now, beyond one simple song, I have never been able to play the piano. My mom, on the other hand, had been a very talented piano player during her recent incarnation. She mostly liked show tunes and gospel songs, but in the dream, with her spirit inside me, I was playing the most incredible Beethoven--I was truly amazed. It has inspired me to look into taking piano lessons. I want to learn to actually play. I think that would bring me closer to my mom (since we never agreed on anything when she was alive--not politics, religion, or even how best to clean a house LOL!)Blessings of Darkness, ~Mena

The night before Samhain - or was it two nights? I forget - I dreamed of an old familiar of mine, a cat called Jesse. I could almost swear she was right there in the room with me. Perhaps she was; until the next thinning of the veil, I can't know.

Most of the magick I do deals with divination; it's the area in which I happen to be most skilled. Mostly I use tarot cards, but I've also developed my own technique using a box of brightly colored stones and a gauze cloth. I lay out the cloth (which is striped in green, aqua, cerulean, and navy blue) and sit down at one end. I shake the box. Closing my eyes, I reach into the box and pull out three stones, which I then toss onto the cloth. I repeat this process twice more until I have nine stones scattered on the cloth. Picking up my wand, I look at stones that are laid out in straight lines and interpret them accordingly. The farther a stone is from me, the farther into the future I'm looking; if the stone leaves the cloth, I'm looking into a future life. It's all about patterns, really. Each stone represents an event, and each event is linked to others in a chain. The stones each have a basic meaning, but their specific meaning changes as time passes. For example, a stone meaning health can predict an accident one week; once that accident happens, it will then predict recovery.

Unfortunately, the things I've seen in the past have come true, somehow or another. Mine's a pesky gift - I'm never sure how true the visions are, yet hindsight becomes painfully clear, and I can always tell what the harbingers were once the event has passed. (I will tell you that I knew what Darren from Savage Garden looked like based solely on his voice. Strange, hm?) Visions usually come in dreams; this can be a problem, because I have past-life dreams as well as prophetic ones. It's even more difficult when I begin to have visions concerning acquaintances. I can't do anything major because I don't know if I'm wrong or not. All I can do is keep an eye on the person or people involved.

Certainly the future can be changed; visions are only a warning of how things will be if nobody does anything about them. The problem is this: most people don't heed visions as warnings, and thus let fate take its course. That's why it's so frustrating to have seeress tendencies. I see things happening that I can't stop, even if I am warned ahead of time.

This is my favorite form of divination, mostly because it was the first thing that I ever made up on my own. This is for all of us wo love the mystique of the crystal ball, but have not the cash to purchase one:Go through your regular cleansing/ grounding / circle casting practicesWhen you are ready to begin, visualize the power of your ancetors upholding you, and the light of the godess filling you.Hold out your dominant hand and visualize a pearl pure white of light, slowly imagine the light expanding, filling with the knowledge of the past, present and future. When the ball reaches yiur desired size, see the light start to change, till you hold in your hand a perfectly clear crystal ball. Use as you would a regular crystal ball

I find that this works wonders, just don't "drop" it, trust me. This also, because of the personal power it embodies, works better for me that any other divination source I have tried.

i scry with water. as for past or future...i seem to find more predicitons than I do see the past. actually i rarely see the past, and i can't control what i scry for either so I wouldn't be able to just 'look'. I do really well with tarot cards though, I think I like them more because I can actually feel the cards and connect with them. with scrying i can't connect. I feel like I'm on the out side looking in (or maybe the inside looking out) either way I don't have any type of bond with my scrying bowl. I get my 'witch sense' from touch most of the time so that to adds to why I like the cards better, I can pick up more details. And my most profound insight would probably be insight into my self. I didn't have allot of self confidence in many of the things I did, but with divination I could record what I predicted and I could actually see how accurate I was. ok i'm not going to go off on here about a bunch of self discovery and all that (don't worry). but what do i think about the future and how it can be changed.....well if i was doing a reading and I found the end result...less-desirable I think I could change it. the challenge is knowing how. the cards give you a glimps to what CAN happen, not what WILL happen. it gives you a chance to look things over and correct your self if need be. like paths, it can show you if you take this path then this will happen. or it would not be good for you if you kept on doing what your doing.

And every one seems to be talking about dreams....well as for me on that subject I don't really listen to my dreams. they are so....complex. I mean I remember the whole dream and theres so much detail and so much sub-plot that I got tired of writing them down. if I think its significant then I will record it. some people say its a message from my sub conscience, *shrugs* maybe it is but I also think that my mind 'plays' with the message before it gets to me. as for premonishions. I hate those. i mean some times its like you call up the person, warn them, they don't believe you, it happens and they follow you around the rest of the week wide eyed and keep poking you asking you to do it again.....(try saying that 10 times ^^) I just think its a hassle to deal with.

and note to Danielle: I honestly don't think you know what you are talking about. its ok, there are alot of ignorant (or ignoramus depends on how you look at it, aye?) people on this planet. you shall blend in nicely. and second, that link was very....creative. and inventive i must say, put right under fiction. and taking quotes from whywiccanssuck.com is not the best either. yes i've read the whole site, and sure they have a few good points, but i think they were directed at the wrong people. they said we (Pagans) judge the Christians as a whole, and that they are all the same. well they just judged Wiccans as a whole and all the same. not to mention ranting half the time. yes ranting and scolding, not informing. also you practically calling others fakes (like you would honestly know) is insulting.

I'm sorry this was off topic. But stupidity annoys me. ending statement: people do things their own way, in their own style, and as differently as they like. get over it.

I do believe your fate is written out for you but only if you egnore lifes warnings. I've been a dreamer since about the age of 4. Through much study and meditation I've developed it into a very useful form of divination. Writting out your dreams and meditating on them will eventually give you your meaning. The most important thing to remember is to never let anyone else interpret for you. Dreams are ment only for you and only you will be able to understand what it means for you. Sometimes you won't get the meaning until afterwards but that only serves as a lesson to your interprtation ability. It will help you know what to look for next time. Practice makes perfect. If you egnore something that you feel strongly about for fear of ridicule it can be devistating. My favorite book for helping me with this gift is "Consciouse Dreaming" by Robert Moss.LOL, Bluemoon

I find that Tarot in general works well for me, but I have yet to "see" anything in the cards that has affected anyone other than myself. Does anyone here ever have visions of larger events, such as community and nationwide events? I always wondered about this.As for Danielle's interesting link...I am confused. I'm not a witch, so maybe the whole thing just went right over my head, but was the writer of the essay (not sure if it was Danielle herself)suggesting that drug use and bestiality should be a part of REAL witchcraft?

I'm currently involved in a womans spirituality course which incourages divination and I have chosen to focus on Tarot for the time being. I have some clarvoiant talents as well. As I was asking about my future path this year past, I was getting readings of a great challenge ahead, but comfort in that it would bring about positive change and strength.

My father, with whom my relationship has been strained for some time, had a stroke this fall.He was left with some fairly significant physical challenges which he is slowly overcoming. My readings helped me to look at this potentially tragic situation in a way which allowed me to put away the past issues my father and I had, and reach out to him. I brought him home for rehabilitation to help him heal and in a very profound way I healed myself as we came to terms with each other. Happily, my father is doing really well and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to share this experience together. I will not continue to let issues with my loved ones remain unresolved, sometimes we don't get a second chance. I know now that I have deep reservoirs of strength that I did'nt realize were there. Life is good.

I usually do my divining with the Viking runecards. From what I've read on them however m cards don't fit the usual predictions for that type of card. I catch things that are going to happen and have the occasional description of someone important but that is rare. My cards can also be very blunt and outspoken(?) in a way when I use them to anwser questions. When I look sometimes I see the past and sometimes the future. It varies I guess with what is the most important, I guess. Automatic writing is another skill that I am in the process of perfecting. It was through that I had a very "profound" moment. Most of mine come true but this was almost unbelievable. I was sitting in my sociology class just doodling. I looked down at my paper and I had drawn a face of a woman. She had a black eye and under it were the words she needs help.I know it sounds corny but that's what was there. It disturbed me enough that I showed it to my mother and she couldn't believe her eyes. Just that day she had gotten a call from my brother asking her to help a friend of his move away from her abusive boyfriend. The picture looked almost exactly like her. I'm no artist I'll be the first to admit that. That is why I was so shocked. It was the first time this had happened, but when it did it counts. I only have one wish though. I wish I could draw that well anytime, not just when fate takes a notion!

My visit between the veils was done via a guided meditation at a Samhain circle. I didn't actually cross this year, but my grandfather came out to me. He spoke a bit & went back, but as I watched him go, on the veil's other side I saw a shadowy figure of my grandmother who is currently in a nursing home. This tells me that I should prepare myself for her passing on to the next world soon. As for my method of divination, my chosen medium(pardon the pun) happens to be the Runes. I have a set of ceramic ones, one of water buffalo bones, and most precious are 2 sets a dear friend made me of chokecherry wood. One is the Norse runes, the other, Witches runes. The spread I use is one The Goddess gave me in a vision. It looks like the rune Hagal with an extra rune on the right side center of the H. The 3 on the left bottom to top are past to recent past, the 2 diagonaling from there are current situation, the 3 on the right, bottom to top again are course of action, the final one is the potential outcome. Feel free to try this spread and see if it works as well for you as for me. It's given wise counsel, and I say counsel because I ask the Runes for their advice most times, not to try and divine the future, though my spread could do that I suppose. Yule is coming next & I wish any and all that see this a Blessed one. Bright Blessings!

In today's society it would be very easy to assume all things that happen to us are predetermined. This would allow us to make excuses for our actions and the reactions they c ause. It is also fun to imagine that it is fate that brings two lovers together. This particularly can be explained with an idea that states that with the Great Council a soul has a say so in who else will be in our next incarnation. So it could be thought that each of us have soul mates and it isnt nesassarily fate's good fortune that made us come across eachother. It is my belief that the future is always changing with each dedcision one makes it alters the path of their lives. Fate along with any idea in predestination exculdes a person from thier own life. If your life is on a track and there is nothing you can do to get off of it, because its just fate, then i say its not your life at all. I fell that each individual should lead thier own life. Find their own truth. And by there own path reach Nirvana.

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